Uber paid $245M for Otto's stolen self-driving files — a federal trade-secrets case

Anthony Levandowski was a founding engineer of Google's self-driving car project, which was spun out as Waymo in 2016. Over seven years he helped build what was then the world's most advanced autonomous-vehicle program. In January 2016, he resigned and co-founded Otto, a startup developing self-driving technology for long-haul trucks. Before leaving, he allegedly downloaded 9.7 GB of Waymo's confidential files — blueprints, schematics, and testing documentation. In July 2016, Uber acquired Otto for $680 million.

In February 2017, Waymo filed a federal lawsuit alleging trade secret misappropriation and sought an injunction to stop Uber from using the stolen technology. The judge referred the case for criminal investigation. Uber settled the civil case in February 2018, paying 0.34% of its equity — valued at approximately $245 million — and agreeing to a third-party audit of its self-driving technology.

Levandowski was indicted on 33 counts of trade secret theft in August 2019, pleaded guilty to one count in March 2020, and was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison. President Donald Trump granted him a full pardon on January 20, 2021. The lawsuit effectively ended Uber's independent self-driving ambitions. Uber parked its autonomous trucking project in July 2018, and in December 2020 sold its self-driving unit to Aurora Innovation for $4 billion.

The total cost to Uber was approximately $925 million — $680 million for the Otto acquisition plus $245 million to settle the resulting lawsuit — and the exit from a technology race it had declared existential.